Doctor of Philosophy in Advanced Studies in Human Behavior

Make a difference in your community.

Strengthen your skills in leadership, advocacy, communication, and program development and evaluation. This program also covers such topics as research methodology, human development and behaviors, understanding diverse populations, child and adolescent services, addictive behaviors, family issues, and aging, grief, and bereavement. People who choose this program are often interested in non-clinical/non-treatment leadership, advocacy, or consulting positions in social and behavioral service organizations, or faculty positions in higher educational institutions. This degree program is not designed to meet licensure requirements for the counseling, psychology, or social work professions.

Outcome goals and graduates' proficiency levels

Each doctoral program and specialization is designed around expected learning outcomes (see Expected Program Outcomes below). End of program performance is determined during the comprehensive exam and dissertation process. Because the work is unique to each learner's dissertation or research topic and the criteria for evaluation are aligned to that work, we do not collect data on proficiency levels for doctoral programs.

Doctoral Social & Behavioral Sciences Degree Program Graduates

Data from graduates across all Social and Behavioral Sciences doctoral programs have been combined for these Career Outcomes results.

The graphs below show some key findings from Capella's Alumni Outcomes Survey. We use this information to help improve our courses, programs and services and to give you an idea of how alumni are using their degrees.

Percentage of respondents who indicated they had accomplished each item.
Source: Responses to the Alumni Outcomes Survey one year after graduation. The data were collected during Q2 2014 – Q1 2015.

Doctoral Social & Behavioral Sciences Degree Program Graduates

Data from graduates across all Social and Behavioral Sciences doctoral programs have been combined for these Student Experience
results.

The graphs below show some key findings from Capella's Alumni Outcomes Survey. We use this information to help improve our courses, programs and services and to give you an idea of how alumni feel about Capella and what general skills and abilities they gained.

Percentage of respondents who rated themselves as "proficient" or "exceptional" on ability to demonstrate the skill or ability on the job.Source: Responses to the Alumni Outcomes Survey one year after graduation. The data were collected during Q2 2014 – Q1 2015.

Expense, completion, & career information (Gainful Employment)

Capella believes in being clear about the real cost, time, and value of a Capella degree The Gainful Employment disclosures, required by the US Department of Education (ED) (under 34 CFR 688.6 ), provide some information about completion, expenses and occupations based on learners who graduated between July 2013 and June 2014. Most of our students are part-time so they might not take a full course load or attend all 4 quarters each year. We took that into account in calculating these data. For example, we define program length for certificates and master's and doctoral degrees as the number of calendar quarters it takes a typical student to complete a program. The ED has defined time to complete for a Bachelor's degree as 4 years. Program cost is based on the specific pricing structure for each program which is either a cost per credit or a cost per active quarter.

Other related information may be found on the Learning Outcomes, Career Outcomes, and Student Experience tabs on this page.

See Gainful Employment data for this program's specializations

Earn Your Doctoral Degree

Alumni Success Story Quote

Jesse Collins, PhD

"I'm able to talk to victims of domestic violence about how to reduce their likelihood of being a victim. This is a real-world application of the Scholar-Practitioner Model and I am honored to be a part of it."